President Donald Trump on Monday warned Syrian President Bashar Assad and his allies Russia and Iran not to “recklessly attack” Idlib province, one of the last strongholds of resistance against Assad’s regime. The Kremlin dismissed Trump’s warning on Tuesday, describing Idlib as a “nest of terrorism” that must be cleaned out by Syria’s armed forces.

Members of Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian Arab Army dropped leaflets over Idlib province on Thursday, warning civilians in the rebel-held territory that they should surrender as the brutal seven-year war reaches its conclusion.

SUWAGHIYA, Syria – Buses began evacuating fighters and civilians from two besieged pro-regime towns in Syria early on Thursday morning under a deal that will allow thousands to leave after three years of encirclement.

Contents: Israel’s F-16 warplane shot down in aftermath of downing Iranian drone; Turkish helicopter shot down in Afrin, days after Russian warplane downed in Idlib; With defeat of ISIS, war escalates, and Syria becomes more fragmented and chaotic

The State Department and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley condemned the Russian government this week following reports of a new Syrian government attack on civilians using chemical weapons. Russia guaranteed that Damascus has destroyed its entire chemical weapons arsenal in 2014.

BEIRUT — Over several nights in September, some 10,000 men, women and children fled areas under Islamic State control, hurrying through fields in northern Syria and risking fire from government troops to reach a province held by an al-Qaeda-linked group.

The Lebanese army captured a number of strategic hilltops bordering Syria from Islamic State militants on Sunday, amid mounting expectations for a campaign to decisively defeat them there, the army and state media said.

JERUSALEM, Israel – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday called on world powers to intervene in the Syrian civil war and to remove chemical weapons from Syria according to its “obligation” from 2013.

A suspected chemical attack in a town in Syria’s northern Idlib province killed dozens of people on Tuesday, Syrian opposition activists said, describing the attack as among the worst in the country’s six-year civil war.